How to Read Chinese Poetry A Guided Anthology

176 t He tang Dy na s t y

morally committed, whereas Li Bai is inebriated, carefree, and transcendent. Al-

though such a simple dichotomy inevitably obscures the complexity of the two

poets’ lives and works, it has taken hold of the popular imagination. Consequently,

they are both best remembered for those works that reveal these character traits.

While many of Du Fu’s great poems are lüshi works, most of Li Bai’s best-loved and

most widely recited works are ancient-style poems (chap. 11). The highly restrictive

lüshi form seems to have been ill suited to Li Bai’s unbridled temperament and

poetic style. Yet, in fact, he wrote a number of lüshi poems, in which we catch a

glimpse of the quintessential Li Bai:

C 8. 3

Climbing the Yueyang Tower with Xia Shi’er

From the tower I look afar to where the Yueyang region ends,

2 The river winds along to where Dongting Lake opens.

The wild geese, taking along the heart’s sorrow, have gone,

4 The mountains, carrying the fine moon in their beak, come.

In the midst of clouds I reach the honored guest’s bed.

6 In heaven above I receive the passing wine cup.

After I have gotten drunk a cool wind rises,

8 Blowing on me, sending my sleeves dancing and fluttering.

[QTS 6:180.1838]

與夏十二登岳陽樓

(yŭ xià shí èr dēng yuè yáng lóu)

tower behold Yue -yang end 樓觀岳陽盡 (lóu guān yuè yáng jìn)
river wind Dong -ting open 川迥洞庭開 (chuān jiŏng dòng tíng kāi)
wild geese leads sorrowful heart gone 雁引愁心去 (yàn yĭn chóu xīn qù)
mountain carry fine moon come 山銜好月來 (shān xián hăo yuè lái)
cloud midst reach laid down bed 雲間連下榻 (yún jiān lián xià tà)
heaven above receive passing cup 天上接行杯 (tiān shàng jiē xíng bēi)
drunk afterward cool breeze arise 醉後涼風起 (zuì hòu liáng fēng qĭ)
blow people dance sleeve flutter 吹人舞袖回 (chuī rén wŭ xiù huí)
[Tonal pattern II, see p. 171]

The opening couplet shows the poet in the act of viewing a panoramic scene. In the

second couplet, his gaze shifts to two concrete images. The flying “wild geese,” a

common image for homesickness, are here used to signify the relief of homesick-

ness, or the “heart’s sorrow.” This transformation of a conventional image is fol-

lowed by a sudden flight of imagination: the mountains have become giant birds

“carrying the fine moon in their beak” and flying toward us.

The third couplet engineers a turn quite characteristic of the poet-immortal:

a flight into the celestial world. Taking the poet as the implicit subject, however,

we can render the couplet as follows: “In the midst of clouds I reach the honored